Elden Ring 'Profit Leakage' Nearly Cost Kadokawa's CEO His J

A game that sold 30 million copies, won Game of the Year, and spawned a DLC, a multiplayer spinoff, and an upcoming movie adaptation somehow became the centrepiece of an argument that a CEO isn't doing his job. That's the situation Kadokawa's Takeshi Natsuno found himself in today, and he only barely kept his seat.

As Reuters reported, Natsuno survived a shareholder vote at Kadokawa's annual general meeting after Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management pushed to have him removed. Oasis, now Kadokawa's largest shareholder at 13.76%, has been hammering one point: FromSoftware's decision to let Bandai Namco handle Elden Ring's international publishing means Kadokawa left significant revenue with a third party. Oasis calls this "material profit leakage." According to Automaton, Oasis has already raised its stake to 15.25% and plans to buy more.

I find it absurd that one of the most successful games of the decade is being framed as a missed opportunity. FromSoftware has used external publishers for every major release going back decades, whether that's Sony, Activision, Bandai Namco, or Nintendo. It's how the studio operates. Oasis isn't wrong that self-publishing globally would capture more revenue on paper, but it conveniently ignores the infrastructure, marketing spend, and distribution networks that publishers like Bandai Namco bring. There's a reason FromSoftware keeps choosing this model.

Oasis had backing from two major proxy advisory firms: Institutional Shareholder Services said replacing Natsuno was "a challenge worth accepting," and Glass Lewis recommended voting against his reappointment. Kadokawa's broader numbers gave them ammunition too. The company posted a return on equity of just 0.5% last year, down from 9.4% in the fiscal year Elden Ring launched. It also suffered a major cyberattack in 2024 and was investigated over alleged freelancer working conditions. Natsuno held 90% shareholder support last year, but this time the margin was clearly tighter. Sony, which holds a 10% stake in Kadokawa, declined to say how it voted.